


is he breathing, is he going to survive this?

by Duck_Life



Category: X-Force (Comics)
Genre: Blood, Friendship, Gen, Injury, Team as Family, mojoworld references, tag to x-force 4, until someone actually brings terry back i'm just gonna keep writing stuff like this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-15
Updated: 2019-03-15
Packaged: 2019-11-18 16:05:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18123461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Duck_Life/pseuds/Duck_Life
Summary: Jimmy gets hit and doesn't get back up.





	is he breathing, is he going to survive this?

Suddenly so many things are happening simultaneously. Stryfe is there, but whatever he’s shouting at Child Cable gets drowned out amid the roaring in Shatterstar’s ears. Warpath is down. Warpath is dying. Warpath is lying on the ground with a dark stain slowly spreading outward from the wound in his chest. 

“No,” Shatterstar rasps, pressing his hands desperately against the hole in James’ chest. “Nononononono.” He is back in Mojo’s arena, watching another young gladiator bleed to death in front of him while he stands there in vacant victory, unable to do anything. “No, no, no.”

“Hey, what’s—  _ holy shit _ .” Tabitha is behind him, and Sam with her, but they are arbitrary, secondary, to the dark blood that seeps from James Proudstar like water from a spigot. 

“James? James, hold on,” Shatterstar says, looking at Jimmy’s slack, gray face before returning his attention to the wound. Pressure. He needs to apply pressure. He does so, pressing down, holding all of Jimmy Proudstar’s blood inside where it belongs. “Please, please, no,” he says quietly, slipping between English and Cadre in his horror. Behind him, Stryfe is a side note. If Jimmy dies here ( _ no, no, God, no _ ), there will be time later to kill the man responsible. 

He has learned, though. He has grown. He is not the stunted warrior he was back when he and Warpath first joined the team, so many years ago. He understands now that saving a life is more important than avenging one. 

“ _ Fekt _ . Do not die. Do not die,” Shatterstar says as blood smears across his hands. “Please, please, please.” He mumbles nonsensically, not even sure what he’s saying or who he’s speaking to. 

But it turns out that someone is listening. 

Cold, pale hands land on his wrists, try to tug him away. Try to take Jimmy away. 

“No,” Shatterstar yelps, leaning over his fallen teammate protectively, thinking of the Spineless Ones who took the losers away at the end of a fight. “No! Leave him. Leave him.” 

“Shatterstar,” someone says, very close to his ear, and he suddenly recognizes the voice. And he suddenly realize that for her to be here, he must have been praying after all. For a miracle. And she got here in the nick of time. “Shatterstar, it’s alright. Let me take him,” Terry Cassidy says, her moon-white eyes wide. 

“Theresa?” Shatterstar feels like he's underwater, trying as hard as he can to force his head above the surface. 

“Aye, in the flesh,” she assures him. Her hands look tiny on top of his. “It's okay. You can let go, I've got him.”

Shatterstar pulls away and Terry's hands rest over the dark spot on Jimmy's torso. He lies so still, but Terry looks determined. “Is he—?”

“I've got him,” she insists. “I can help him. Right now, you need to help Cable.”

Shatterstar stands, his legs shaky. He has, of course, been injured, too. He forgot that when Jimmy hit the ground. “ _ Just let him help you, ’Star _ .”

If those are to be James Proudstar's last words, Shatterstar might actually die of guilt. 

Sam and Tabitha have already joined the fight against Stryfe and his allies. As Shatterstar struggles toward the fray, he thinks that he hears Theresa singing. 

But the sound is soon swallowed up by gunfire and the clashing of swords. 


End file.
